Herein are quotations and citations on Serpent (within a Satanic context) in the Targumim. The Targumim, plural of Targum (Strong’s H8638 meaning interpret as in Ezra 4:7), are Aramaic paraphrases of the Old Testament that began to be produced beginning at the time of the Second Temple period (530 BC and 70 AD). The fuller complete result consists of quotations of those sections within the text that refer to Angels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Devil, Satan, demons, serpent and dragon. The point is not to elucidate these references but to provide relevant partial quotations and citations. See my section on Angels here, Cherubim and Seraphim here, Satan here and Demons here.
Serpent in the Targumim.
Targum of Palestine aka Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel
From the Genesis portion:
III And the serpent was wiser unto evil than all the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it truth that the Lord God hath said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, From the rest of the fruits of the trees of the garden we have power to eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden the Lord hath said, You shall not eat of it, nor approach it, lest you die. In that hour the serpent spake accusation against his Creator, and said to the woman, Dying you will not die; for every artificer hateth the son of his art: for it is manifest before the Lord, that in the day that you eat of it, you will be as the great Angels, who are wise to know between good and evil…
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me with his subtilty, and deceived me with his wickedness, and I ate. And the Lord God brought the three unto judgment; and He said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou of all the cattle, and of all the beasts of the field: upon thy belly thou shalt go, and thy feet shall be cut off, and thy skin thou shalt cast away once in seven years; and the poison of death shall be in thy mouth, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. [JERUSALEM…Nevertheless there shall be a medicine for the sons of the woman, but for thee, serpent, there shall be no medicine: but it is to be that for these there shall be a remedy for the heel in the days of the king Meshiha]…And the Lord God made to Adam and to his wife vestures of honour from the skin of the serpent, which he had cast from him, upon the skin of their flesh, instead of that adornment which had been cast away; and He clothed them.
From the Isaiah portion:
XIV:29 …from the children of Jesse shall come forth the Messiah, and His works among you shall be as a flying serpent.
Targum Onkelos From the Genesis portion.
III And the serpent (chivja) was more crafty than all the animals of the field which the Lord God bad made. And he said to the woman, Is it in truth (that) the Lord said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, the Lord hath said, You shall not eat of it, nor approach to it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman…And the woman said, The serpent led me astray, and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, more accursed art thou than all cattle, and than all the beasts of the held; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and the dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
Targum on Psalms
Psalm 58:5 Poison is theirs like the poison of the serpent; like the deaf adder that stops up his ears.
Targum on Ruth
4:22 He lived a long time, until the serpent’s counsel to Eve, Adam’s wife, to partake of the fruit of the tree, the eating of which resulted in wisdom to distinguish between good and evil, was recalled before God.
In the next segment, we will consider Angels in Philo of Alexandria.